


100 Themes

by VaughnDotEXE



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: 100 Themes Challenge, Gen, One Shot Collection, This character is absolutely and totally not planned out, but she's coming to me more naturally than my other characters, so this'll be interesting to find out what happens as I write, tags will be added as i write more
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-06
Updated: 2020-09-09
Packaged: 2020-10-10 21:20:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20534771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VaughnDotEXE/pseuds/VaughnDotEXE
Summary: 100 Themes. 100 Scenarios. 100 times writing a character that never developed in my mind, but rather on the page.Meet Shaela, more commonly known as "Shae" with her friends, "Fireball" with Varric, and "Inquisitor" to the world.My work is beta'd by my roommate and really good friend, Rissa! Thanks to her for putting up with me and my ramblings <3





	1. Theme One: Introduction

“Tell me why we shouldn’t kill you now.”

Her eyes are wide, looking around frantically. Where the hell is she? How did she get here? What is even going on?

“The Conclave is destroyed,” the intimidating woman continues, in an almost demanding tone. “Everyone who attended is dead.”

Oh, that’s right. The Conclave. That’s where she was. She was spying on the gathering, she was….

She is the only one left alive?

“What do you mean everyone’s dead?”

Her voice is shaky — of course it is. Why wouldn’t it be? She is a Dalish elf, and an apostate mage no less, in shackles somewhere in a dank area that she can only imagine is a dungeon. Being questioned like this, clearly something had gone wrong. It seems they think she’d done something, done whatever it was that happened. But what did happen? What is this green glowing thing suddenly on her hand?

Most importantly, _ what the hell happened? _

“Explain this.”

The woman in armour holds up her hand, the hand with the green… whatever the hell it is. Was it a scar from magic gone wrong? Was she casting spells and it backfired? Why would she be casting spells while at a Divine meeting? Nothing made sense. Last she remembered, she was creeping around the area, and then… she was somewhere, being chased by something… and now she’s here.

What happened in between? What were all the blank spots in her memory?

“I-I can’t.”

“What do you mean you _ can’t _?”

The armoured lady sounds so angry. She wants answers. _ So do I. _ The green mark hurt like hell, like a pulsing throughout her entire arm up to her shoulder. She’d never seen anything like it before. “I don’t know what it is, or how it got there!”

“You’re lying!”

Another woman comes in, this one is wearing a hood. She pulls the armoured lady away, forcing her to back up. 

“We need her, Cassandra,” little purple robin hood says to the buff lady. 

Cassandra looks at the purple robin hood, seeming to somewhat calm down. Then, more questions came from the hooded woman, more questions that she didn’t know the answers to, more questions it seemed _ no one _ knew the answers to.

The green mark is killing her. Because of course it is. There’s a hole in the sky, bright and green, pretty but dangerous. Her mark is connected to the sky. It sounded serendipitous, but her arm vibrating and pulsing with the magic running through her veins didn’t feel so great. She still felt like she was in a dream. Or possibly, a nightmare.

Her hands are released. Now Cassandra and her running, and the pulses in the sky are making her hand pulse as well, the mark feeling as if it were contracting and expanding in her hand. It grows larger as the hole in the sky also grows larger. It’s awful. She wants it all to stop, wants to just take a breather. This is a lot to be thrown into. Had they even asked her name? 

Cassandra and her fight together after the bridge collapses — Cassandra threatens her to drop her weapon. She is a mage, she doesn’t need a staff to do damage, but she relents. She doesn’t want to hurt anyone anyway. As she is about to put it down, the armoured lady stops her. Cassandra lets her have it, “self defense” being her big reason. It doesn’t hurt. Demons are everywhere. 

They are calling the hole in the sky the Breach. It was connected to the Fade. The hole in the sky ripped open the Fade, and the big hole in the sky is causing smaller holes in the sky. All of the holes are raining demons on them. But the mark on her hand can close the holes in the sky? All too strange.

This is all too damn weird.

“Varric Tethras. Rogue, storyteller, and occasionally unwelcome tagalong.” The dwarf directs a wink at Cassandra, and she could only imagine the armoured lady’s face. She doesn’t know what to say, so she compliments his crossbow. His crossbow’s name is Bianca. She’ll be great company in the valley. That ends up in a fight between Cassandra and Varric, ending with a disgusted noise.

“My name is Solas, if there are to be introductions.”

Solas kept her alive while she slept. Kept the mark from killing her while she was unconscious. She nods slowly along with the conversation. They’re on the move. As they’re moving down the slope, a question comes out from Varric.

“So, what’s your name?”

She ponders, questioning if she should trust them. But if she’s going to be in the middle, if she’s going to die from this, what’s the harm?

“Shaela. My name is Shaela.”


	2. Theme Two: Love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all ever know that feeling when your character is developing themselves and you're like "oh my god is this what happened to you??" bc that was me writing this chapter.

Love was a strange thing. Love came in many forms — family, friends, significant others. They all have their own kind of love, their own special bond. There were areas of love that Shaela had never experienced before, and areas she’d only barely touched. She never realised how deep love could run. She never realised how you could find it in the strangest of places.

“So, it just occurred to me you’re a mage.”

Shaela raised an eyebrow, her arms crossed over her chest as her weight shifted from one foot to the other. “You’re only just now realising that? We’ve been fighting alongside each other for how long now, and you only _ just _ realised I could spit magic from my fingertips?”

A laugh left Dorian’s lips, his head tilted back a bit as the sound echoed a bit in his little library corner. “I mean, I always knew you were a mage, don’t get me wrong. I guess it just occurred to me that we probably grew up very differently because of it.”

Shaela pursed her lips together. Of course, the south was so much different than Tevinter. Tevinter was so accepting of mages, Dorian probably didn’t think much of it until he came to the south.

“Well, I guess. But not a lot of others share my past, so it’s easily said that just about every mage in this Inquisition has been treated differently because of their magical abilities.”

“May I ask what your past with magic was like?” The curiosity in his voice made her heart sink a little. _ He’s hoping for a good story. _ “You’re Dalish, so your clan must have taught you, correct?”

Ah. The question of the year. No one knew about her past here in the Inquisition — well, that she knew about. She had no doubt Leliana had done some digging, though Shaela wasn’t sure how much Leliana could find on her. After all, there was no paper trail, no one she associated with regularly. Leliana was scary good at what she did, however. That’s why she made such an incredible spymaster.

Shae averted her eyes. Her past had never been a topic of conversation before. Never had to be — she didn’t come into enough deep contact with people for it to really become something she thought about doing.

Dorian had trusted her enough to tell her about his past in that little tavern in Redcliffe, told her about his father and the anger between the two of them. All right in front of his father, no less! She could see how much it had hurt him to open up, but she almost felt them grow closer as he did. Now? It was her turn to open up the book of her life and reveal her backstory.

“I… somewhat. Some of the basic stuff was taught by my clan, but the more experienced stuff I self-taught, or read from books in my spare time.” Shae kicked the ground lightly with her foot, hesitating before continuing. “Minaeve knows what it’s like, so I’m not a special case by any means. I was about… fourteen when I was kicked out of my clan due to my magical abilities. The youngest member of our clan started displaying his magical abilities when he was very young, only about five or six. So instead of a young kid being kicked out onto his ass, my Keeper kicked my ass out instead.” Shae took a deep breath, resting her arms at her side. “I’m not… bitter. I think I would have been more mad and upset if my Keeper had kicked out the little boy instead of me. Especially since he was so young and small, he wouldn’t have made it long by himself before…” She paused, continuing without finishing her sentence. “But I’ve been on my own since I was young, and I’ve been hunting and cooking my own food since then. I never even had a bed to sleep in until I came here.”

Shae risked looking up at Dorian to gauge his reaction but quickly looked away. His eyes showed so much sympathy, his facial expression showing sorrow. “Inquisitor, I didn’t—”

“You don’t have to call me Inquisitor. Around here, I’m Shaela. Around you guys, I’m Shaela. Not Inquisitor.”

“Shaela, then. I didn’t realise the Dalish were so…” Dorian was at a loss for words. He didn’t seem to know what to say, his mouth opening and closing repeatedly as he seemed to try and find words.

“Clans don’t want too many mages in a group in fear of attention. I just was the unlucky one.” Shaela laughed a little, fingers running through her hair absentmindedly. “But it’s okay. I’m here now, and despite all the shit above my head and on my shoulders, I’m doing a lot better.” She swings an arm around Dorian’s shoulders, a smile on her face. His arm wraps around her waist, a small grin on his face too. “You make everything a lot better Dorian, you make me actually feel…” Shae paused. “You actually make me feel cared for. It’s… it’s something I’ve not felt before. So thank you. You’re an amazing friend.”

The smile that came across his lips was contagious, causing Shae to mirror it. “It’s not a problem, Shaela.”

The two embraced each other in a hug wordlessly as silently they knew to read between the lines. They loved each other, and that was more than Shae could ever ask for.


	3. Theme Three: Light

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Marissa for this prompt, because now I'm starting to actually think of funny things to write rather than my natural angst that I write!

Varric groaned as the four of them entered yet  _ another _ cave. It seemed every time they turned around, they were in some Maker-forsaken cave, and it was starting to really get on the dwarf’s nerves. He tilted his head back a bit as he emitted an even louder groan, since his first one was ignored. “For once, can we explore something besides a cave?”

“Y’know, for a dwarf, you don’t seem to do typical dwarf things.” The Iron Bull ducked down as they passed through a narrow pass, his horns occasionally scraping the walls. “Shouldn’t you like caves, wear a beard, talk about the Stone or whatever it is?”

Varric shook his head. “Just because I’m a dwarf doesn’t mean I’m interested in whatever ‘true dwarves’ do in their spare time. I prefer to be in a city, not doing—” His sentence was cut off by his boot making a very audible  _ squish _ as he stepped in something. Grunting, he continued with a disgruntled tone, “— _ this. _ It’s too dark in here, I can’t see what I stepped in. I’m sure it’s nug shit.”

Dorian turned toward the dwarf. “Here,” he spoke, raising his hands to cast a spell. “Allow me to—”

“I got it!”

The room suddenly lit up green, and everyone turned toward Shaela, who held the biggest shit-eating grin on her face possible. “I beat you to it, Dorian. I knew this thing was good for something!”

“You mean… besides closing rifts and banishing demons?” Varric asked, a small grin spreading across lips slowly as he attempted to process the whole situation going on in front of him. 

Shae shrugged. “I mean… I guess it does that too. I like ‘built-in-torch’ better than that.”

With his hands lowering, Dorian looked at her, a look of almost awe at what was transpiring before him. “I — you realise I —  _ we _ — are mages, no? We can both cast a fire spell and light up the place. There’s no need for—”

“Aww, c’mon, Dorian. Let the Boss do this. This is too stupid for this to not continue,” Iron Bull laughed, too amused to think about his horns scraping lightly against the cave walls.

“Whatever works,” the dwarf responded with laughter, no longer thinking about the fact he had most definitely stepped in nug shit. “Let’s just get through this cave and get back to the surface. I actually like being able to see the sky.”

Dorian pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a long breath. This was their Inquisitor. This young woman was supposed to save the damn world. He watched as his companions continued on, Shae lighting up the way as he followed behind. “This whole thing is ridiculous.”


	4. Theme Three: Dark

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I know normally Cole would be the one to disappear and go help, but Varric doing it ties into the next one.
> 
> Also today I'm posting this exactly one year after the last one. I haven't forgotten about it, I have a lot more written, but the state of the world kinda killed my will to write. I have it back with the DA4 behind the scenes video that was posted! Yay!

“Alright, Kid, let’s try this again.” Varric was knelt in front of Cole, one of his shoes on top of the dwarf’s thigh. “I’ll show you on this one, then you can do your left foot. So first, you cross the laces,” he paused to show the now-human how to cross them and tighten them before continuing his sentence. “Then, you make nug ears—”

“Trapped.”

Well. Alright, that took an interesting turn. “What? Your foot isn’t trapped, Kid, I promise.”

“No, not my foot. Surrounded by black, suffocating, nothingness. Sticky below me, can’t see, can’t hear, where am I? Feel dirty, feel sick, calling for help, but where is my voice?” Cole’s eyes seemed to be zoned out, focusing on whatever was calling for his help. His voice goes deeper. “You could have done something. This is your fault.”

Varric stood up, slowly, in an attempt to not disturb him. He continued listening, trying to figure out who in Thedas could Cole be picking up on.

“Dropped to knees, eyes closed, ears covered. Feel something soak into my pants, too scared to look in case I see.  _ This is all your fault! _ ”

Cole looked honestly frightened by the thoughts he was reading. Who could be dreaming something this strong, this… strange? Varric put a hand on the kid’s shoulder, frown getting stronger as he realised Cole was physically shaking by the hurt he was hearing. 

“Pool of blood,” he continued, “screaming, but no sound. Try to get away, can’t, blood everywhere. All I smell, all I see, all I feel. Powerful, overwhelming, knees soaked,  _ please leave me alone! _ ” Cole looked up at Varric, shaken, his eyes wide and scared. He could feel the person’s pain, and it killed the dwarf inside to see it. His other hand placed itself on Cole’s other shoulder in an attempt to calm him down a little. “She needs to wake up.”

She. That’s a start, at least. “We’ve talked about this, Kid. Nouns. Who needs to wake up?”

“Shaela.”

Varric felt his stomach drop to the floor as he realised what he had been listening to was the Inquisitor’s nightmares. Of course she was having nightmares; after everything she had been through it was understandable. Being in the Fade physically and then almost immediately playing the Game in Halamshiral wasn’t something one just brushed off. Not unless they were a complete psychopath. 

The dwarf nodded and let Cole go, making sure to make eye contact. “Where is she?”

“Her quarters. She wanted a nap. She’s not been sleeping, frightful, anxious. The nightmares are getting worse.”

With a pat on Cole's back, a silent  _ thank you _ , Tethras took off quickly toward Shaela’s quarters. He might be small, his legs might be shorter than most, but he could be very quick when he wanted to be.

And now is a time he wanted to be.

Running up the stairs and bursting through the door, he found the Inquisitor laying down for what seemed to be a restless nap. She was shaking in her sleep, eyebrows furrowed a little bit, but other than that there were no signs of distress. If Cole hadn’t told him the nightmare, he would think she was just thinking about working, or something a little on the stressful side.

Not a complete nightmare like what the kid had told him.

Varric hurried over and shook her shoulder to rouse her. “Fireball. Shaela, wake up, it’s just a dream!”

Shaela’s eyes popped open and she sat up abruptly, gasping for air as she started to throw herself into an anxiety attack. Varric grabbed her hand, his other hand placed on her cheek. “Shaela. Look at me. Listen to my voice. Listen to what I’m saying. Breathe. You’re okay, you’re in Skyhold, safe and sound. No danger. It’s okay.”

But Creators take her, she couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t focus on anything but her nightmare, and the fact her heart was beating so fast that it felt like it was going to jump out and run away. Everything was spinning, her eyes tearing up and lungs asking for more air than they could suck in. She tried, Varric could see she tried, but her mind was too deep into her trauma that she couldn’t focus on him.

That didn’t stop him from trying, however.

He kept talking, trying to get her to focus, all while holding her hand tightly. “I’m right here, Shae. It’s Varric, I’m here, focus on me.”

She gripped his hand tightly (to the point he vaguely wondered if he would be able to feel his fingers after she let go), her eyes looking in his direction but seeming far away. He stayed right there, talking to her, brushing the back of her hand with his thumb to comfort her.

Slowly but surely, Shaela calmed down. Her face was a mess, eyes red and tears all down her cheeks. Her eyes finally came into focus to look into Varric’s, finally listening to his words. Breathe, focus on him, he’s here with her, they’re in Skyhold, they’re not in danger.

A few moments of silence passed between them as she closed her eyes and nodded slightly, letting him know she was out of her little episode. They sat in silence as the dwarf moved to place both hands on the sides of her shoulders as if steadying her. Finally, after a few minutes of letting her calm down, he asked, “You alright, Fireball?”

Shaela didn’t answer right away. She sat with her eyes closed, leaning into his touch as if he was the only thing keeping her sitting upright. With a deep breath, the elf finally spoke. “I can’t… stop thinking about Stroud. How I had to choose to leave him in the Fade. That — That shouldn’t be something anyone has to choose.”

“We all have to make difficult choices — unfortunately, yours are harder than most.” Varric’s thumbs pushed into her shoulders moderately as a way to keep her grounded. “I wish I knew the words to say, but I can’t say I’ve ever had to make the choices you do on an almost daily basis. I can say, though, you’re doing alright. This is the author of this story torturing the protagonist, as I said before. You have us all to lean on, though. You do not have to bear this burden alone.”

The Inquisitor didn’t respond. Her eyes averted to the floor, her gaze distant as she thought about the choices she had made over the past how bloody long they had been fighting Corypheus. It felt like it’d been way too long. And they weren’t even close to being done. “... Varric?”

“Yeah?”

“... Can we go get a drink? I need to unwind.”

A soft, hearty laugh left him as his hands slid to her as he helped her up off the bed. “Yeah, Fireball, we can.”


End file.
